On The Hunt For Cutts

My weekend was a bit hectic, to say the least. Between helping out my sick grandma, working a Jazz game Friday night (I'm a staff write for them this season), and the offer of lunch at Tucanos on Saturday, my fishing opportunities weren't exactly abundant. While my buddy Justin was able to hit the Provo for some nice browns, I went south in search of some cutthroat action. My first choice was to hit some small ponds that are proven to hold really nice cutts, up Spanish Fork Canyon. I've only hit this particular pond once before, and the weather was much nicer that time. I turned off highway 6 onto a dirt road, and almost immediately got stuck in some muddy ruts. After a lot of help from my buddy Trevor who was fishing with me, we got the truck unstuck, parked, and decided to hoof it the half-mile or so to the cutt ponds.

After bushwhacking through mucky, swampy terrain for about 20 minutes, we finally got to the pond - and it was almost completely iced over. We ended up fishing the shallow, eastern end that hadn't iced up (because that's where the sun hit the water) but we didn't catch a thing. Trevor had a fish on at one point, but it threw his jig and swam off. I didn't even get a nibble!

After messing around up there for a while, we made the trek back to the truck, and decided to try the confluence of Soldier Creek and Starvation Creek, where I've heard tale of big browns. Those browns didn't wanna play Sunday, though, so we left that spot empty handed.

Getting down the canyon, we were losing daylight. So I decided to make one last detour to Diamond Fork, in the hopes of getting into some browns. We parked the truck, hiked to the river, and I picked up this guy after about three casts.

I was surprised at how skinny this guy was for his length, but he still gave me plenty of fight. I caught two of his other buddies before I had to go home. 

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, too. 

Even though the fishing was slow, getting out and fishing is what this trip was really about. I need to fish. It relaxes me, helps me forget the stupid worries of life, and I always come home in a better mood than when I left. I'm going to give Fish Lake, Koosharem, or Johnson a look next week. Stay tuned for that report!